At New Hope North East, we create opportunities for children with disabilities to come together with their siblings and friends from the wider community. Through our “Learning and Fun Together” sessions, young people from mainstream settings learn that they are not fundamentally different from their disabled peers. This shared experience helps challenge and dissolve preconceived, segregatory perceptions, allowing children to learn from one another and build genuine, lasting friendships.

NHNE is committed to promoting involvement, participation, inclusion, interaction, and mutual understanding between disabled children and young people and their peers from mainstream environments. Our aim is to nurture a community where every child feels valued, connected, and able to thrive alongside others.

Sharing of daily challenges and how to overcome them is one of our important aspects. We tackle the real issues derived from the “Social Model” of disability concept which sees disabling barriers as circumstances and conditions that prevent disabled people from fully participating in their Society. These barriers do so through: marginalisation and segregating disabled people in all aspects of social life; denying access to, and participation in organizations, and prohibiting equal rights. Therefore ‘disability’ can be thought of as being imposed on disabled people by these disabling barriers which permeate every aspect of the physical and social environment: attitudes, institutions, language and culture,organisation and delivery of support services, and the power relations and structures of which society is constituted (Swain et al 1993, p.2). These barriers which are about social exclusion, discrimination, inequality and poverty, are the real issues which need to tackle society’s failure in providing appropriate services adequately to ensure the needs of the disabled are fully taken into account

Nevertheless, it may be easy to identify someone with a disability if they use a wheelchair, white cane or other gadgets, but for people with ASD, it is not so. Therefore, in the event that you, a family member, or someone you know suffers from abuse because they are disabled, we will provide you with advice and support, signpost you to relevant organization and even accompany you if you are not confident to speak out. We, at New Hope North East, are committed to promoting inclusion and below are some of the ways we endeavour to use in engaging with wider community:-